


Moving Forwards

by FleetofShippyShips



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Establised Relationship, Fluff, Hogwarts Eighth Year, Last Night At Hogwarts, M/M, Stargazing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-05
Updated: 2017-09-05
Packaged: 2018-12-24 06:35:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12007107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FleetofShippyShips/pseuds/FleetofShippyShips
Summary: It's the last night of Hogwarts, and even though they've been together a while, Blaise and Theo have never talked about what happens next.





	Moving Forwards

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this as an expansion of the prompted drabble I wrote [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11842470/chapters/26732718). It's not necessary to read that in order to read this, this contains the original drabble, if slightly modified.

As midnight came, and the professors left the Great Hall, turning a blind eye to the students smuggling alcohol in, the leaving party changed in tone. Mixed seventh and eighth year students were celebrating their last night at Hogwarts.

There was a crowd on one side of the hall, where Potter was surrounded by other people, and appeared to be acting something out with Weasley. Theo scoffed, and turned away. Potter had started off the school year so quiet and downcast, but that had faded around Christmas, and now he and his friends were back to being regular irritating Gryffindors.

For Theo, it was hard to be so excited to leave Hogwarts, when the world outside its walls was not a friendly place for people like him. Sure, they had all avoided punishment for what they had taken part in during their seventh year, and even Draco had been pardoned for his acts as a Death Eater, but that didn’t mean everything was okay.

There was no telling how far that leniency and forgiveness would go when they were all looking for employment.

“That’s a very serious expression for a party.”

A heavy arm landed across his shoulders, and a face pressed into the side of his neck. Swallowing nervously, Theo looked around, but no one even seemed to notice. Still, he felt his face heat up, and tugged at Blaise’s arm in a vain attempt to make him let go.

“How much have you had to drink?” he asked, as Blaise kissed his neck with clearly no thought towards the fact they were in public. He’d never been so open about that before.

“Have you even tasted that concoction they’re passing around?” Blaise asked, lifting his face out of Theo’s neck, and gesturing towards the table with all the drinks on it. “It’s not fit for one such as myself, possessing refined tastes.”

“I think ‘snob’ is the word you’re looking for,” Theo said with a snicker, unable to pass up the opening.

“You wouldn’t drink it either,” Blaise huffed.

“Definitely not,” Theo said, looking across the hall at how many people were starting to behave like idiots. The hall was going to be in a sorry state by the time they all passed out or wandered off. He’d heard that the lower year dormitories had been heavily warded so there would be no trouble, but he still found it difficult to believe the faculty was allowing this.

Blaise looked at his face, and then followed his gaze around. His arm tightened around Theo’s shoulders for a moment, and then retreated.

“But you don’t like parties at all, of course,” he said softly. “How would you rather spend your last night here?”

“Anywhere but in a crowd,” Theo muttered. He never did like being surrounded by people. He shouldn’t have let himself get dragged to the party in the first place.

“Come on then,” Blaise said, taking his hand and tugging him through the crowd.

Theo stared at their joined hands, and then around. People parted for them, glancing at them briefly, before turning back to whatever they were doing. No one cared.

Of course they didn’t. He’d known that...but still. Why had they even been hiding it?

They left the Great Hall, but Blaise kept going. Theo moved forward to walk beside him, but Blaise didn’t let his hand go, and Theo wasn’t about let go himself. It was nice. He’d always liked Blaise’s hands. His skin was so soft it was like he never did any work, and when their fingers were laced together, they fit perfectly.

“Where are we going?”

Blaise turned and grinned at him, as they reached one of the side doors that led to the grounds. “Outside.”

Frowning, Theo was about to stop him, but then they were through the door, and he was distracted. The sky was so clear, it was hardly dark at all. The grounds were lit by the waxing gibbous moon, and the light of all the stars, unobscured by clouds. It would be a full moon soon, and the moonlight was bright.

“Outside is better,” Blaise muttered. “The Astronomy tower is likely to be busy tonight, but we can still see well enough from down here.”

Theo looked away from the sky to see him staring at his face. Feeling his cheeks heat up, he moved forward, tugging Blaise along. The grounds immediately outside the castle might also be busy that night, the Quidditch pitch would remain empty, no doubt. No one was fool enough to walk so far while drunk.

Blaise knew how much he loved Astronomy and stargazing. As detached and casual as Blaise acted most of the time, it was so easy to forget how thoughtful he was.

Theo tightened his hold in his hand. What had started as desperation, and an escape from fear and pain, was so much more now. And yet, they had never really clarified what they were to each other.

“Where are we going?” Blaise asked. “We should have grabbed something to drink.”

Theo cast a frown over his shoulder. “I thought you said those drinks were awful?”

Blaise shrugged. “It’s our last night here, I can put up with the taste.”

“Do you want to get drunk?” The thought made Theo uneasy. Why was that necessary?

Blaise stared at him, and Theo looked forward again as they made their way to the Quidditch pitch. Maybe they should have talked. It was their last night at Hogwarts, and he had no idea what was going to happen the next day.

“Not really,” Blaise finally answered. “Just figured it was a rite of passage we should want to do.”

Reaching the pitch, Theo let him go, and turned to face him.

“When have I ever wanted to do something simply because everyone else is?”

Blaise’s expression was impossible to read even under the bright moonlight. Theo thought of conjuring some light, but decided against it. He wasn’t sure what was going to happen the next day, when they left Hogwarts. He would rather be surprised by Blaise moving on, than see such an admission coming in the expressions on his face.

“Yes, you never were one for following the herd,” Blaise said quietly. “Neither was I, but then, I sometimes did it for social standing.”

“Such things were pointless before, and even more so now.”

Social standing hadn’t helped any of them once the Death Eaters had taken over the castle. Even being the son of prominent Death Eaters hadn’t saved Theo from that awful year. No, it had been worse, in fact. The expectation to harm others had always sickened him, but never as much as when he was finally forced to do so.

“That’s all in the past now,” Blaise said softly, stepping forward, and cupping his face. “Stop thinking about it. You’ll only upset yourself.”

“Easy for you,” Theo muttered. “It’s not so easy for me to step out of my own mind.”

“If you need a distraction, you know you only have to ask.”

Theo closed his eyes as Blaise kissed him. That was how they’d started. Distraction. He gripped Blaise’s shoulder tightly as they kissed, and kissed. He wanted so much more than distraction, and he felt that they were more than distraction now, but he’d never asked, and Blaise had never said.

It was always so easy to just go with it, and worry later.

 

* * *

 

The stars seemed overly bright, as they gazed at the sky, lying on the Quidditch pitch. Their breathing had slowed, but Theo’s heart was still racing. A momentary distraction, but still, life after Hogwarts was looming.

“What do you think it will be like? Finally leaving?” he asked quietly, skimming his fingers slowly over Blaise’s upturned palm where it lay between them.

Blaise sighed. “As hard as we let it be, or as easy as we make it,” he replied. “We are not our house. And we have each other, right?”

His fingers caught Theo’s, and caused a surge of warmth to pass through him. 

That was the best outcome of the war, the bonds they had never been brave enough to make until fear and pain had brought them together. Perhaps it was not as temporary as he had feared, if Blaise was saying that. Still, he couldn’t ask him to clarify what he meant by it. Asking brought with it the threat of an answer he didn’t want to hear.

But this was enough, surely. Regardless of what they were, they were together. Blaise was always there for him, as he had been during that awful year under Death Eater rule. As he had been through his father’s trial, and his mother’s funeral. He’d been there, every day, every hour, every minute. When they had returned to Hogwarts, he’d always been around exactly when Theo had needed him the most.

And Theo had been there for him. They never spoke of the times Blaise woke up screaming in the night, but Theo was there, holding him, and that had always seemed like enough, even if Theo wondered if it really was. Blaise had never asked for anything. He always seemed content. Even if they never talked of what they were. Even if they were still so discreet, even within their own house, and amongst their friends.

Did he really need to put a name to it? In those short words, Blaise confirmed that it would not be over when they left Hogwarts. That sent warmth surging through him, and he couldn’t help but smile. That was all he wanted, after all. Staying together. What they called it didn’t really matter.

“Yes. Whatever happens, we’ll have each other,” he said softly, looking back up at the stars.

They should probably go back inside and get some sleep before leaving the next day. But Blaise’s hand was warm in his, and he could hear the steady, soft sound of his breathing, and the air was warm, and the ground not so hard.

A few more hours wouldn’t hurt. And maybe he could finally drill some constellation names into Blaise’s head, with the sky so clear.

He lifted their joined hands, freeing one finger to point.

“What’s that one?” he asked.

Blaise made a soft, groaning sound. “Not as beautiful as you are.”

Theo rolled his eyes, and turned his head to glare at him. “That was beneath you.”

Blaise turned his head too, and grinned, but Theo clapped a hand over his mouth before he could give the predictable response.

Behind his hand, Blaise laughed, and then reached over, grabbing Theo, and rolling them over, getting his hands under his shirt, and tickling that spot just under his right ribs. Their laughter was loud, and carried far, echoing over the grounds.

When Blaise finally relented, he sprawled over Theo, resting his head on his chest, and making a pleased sound.

“Much better than being at the party.”

Theo looked up, eyes locating the constellations by habit. He hummed in reply, and Blaise pressed a kiss to his neck, before rolling onto his back beside him again.

He picked up Theo’s hand, lacing their fingers together, leaving one finger free. He raised their hands up, and turned to smile at him.

“Go on then.”


End file.
